Security a concern at Newport News' Aqueduct Apartments

NEWPORT NEWS — Security at Aqueduct Apartments in Denbigh is a concern to the head of the city department that manages the complex.

"We spend $50,000 a year for off-duty police officers to patrol some of our key properties," said Karen Wilds, the executive director of the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Aqueduct Apartments, a public housing complex near Warwick Boulevard and Colony Road, is one of those key properties, Wilds added. The housing authority operates nine other properties with 13 communities throughout the city.

The housing authority bought and converted the 262-apartment complex into public housing in the 1980s, Wilds said. Beforehand, it had been privately owned.

In addition to the money spent on security, police routinely patrol Aqueduct. There also is a standing offer for a Newport News police officer to live at Aqueduct, but the offer has not been taken up, Wilds said.

"At this moment, we have an officer who lives at two of our properties," she said. Those properties are Oyster Point and Brighton, which are both in the midtown section of Newport News.

The housing authority also has a safety division that acts as a liaison between apartment residents and the Newport News Police Department.